From Ink to Pixels

From typewriters to computers, from ink to pixels, electronic writing has dominated the world of communication by means of the Internet. Over the past three decades, technological innovations and advances have created faster and more efficient means of communication, networking, and writing. As of today, electronic writing has allowed modern society to be updated on recent news and world events faster than in any other point in history. Due to its effective and fast paced nature, the future of electronic writing will create more communication between parents and children, teachers and students, and workers and co-workers. These specific relationships will become a tighter community by means of all kinds of electronic writing. The world of electronic writing will enhance and revolutionize our everyday communication. 

In today’s modern society, as demands for new technology and electronics rise, the capabilities of our new inventions broaden as well as become more efficient and common in practice. Today, our daily communication revolves around telephone calls and text messaging. Competition between businesses calls for companies to produce new cell phones with new features such as fast speed Internet, AOL instant messaging, and video-text messaging. As these features increase in popularity, the use of these tools becomes common practice in our everyday lives. Although it is a small portion of the world of electronic writing, the use of text messaging can play an important role in creating more communication in different relationships and situations. In the future, as text messaging becomes a much more common method of communicating than it is now, the use of text messages can allow for closer relationships with familes. According to a report by Pew Internet, the "traditional nuclear family has the highest rate of technology usage and ownership." Currently, over 85% of teens report to using a type of electronic communication in their everyday lives but 60% of teens do not consider this electronic communication as writing. According to Pew, teens do not consider this as writing because "the informal styles that characterize their e-communications do occasionally bleed into their schoolwork." As our current generation becomes more accustomed to using this in our everyday lives, future generations will grow up using this tool even more frequently. Older generations of people who did not grow up in a time of electronic revolution have been left behind in the world of electronic writing, causing them to continue the use of old fashion methods of communication. It is important for our generation to continue this use of electronic communication so that future generations will be more tech-savvy and understanding of modern technology. 

Currently, the older generation of people in the U.S. grew up in a time where communication was done through letters and telephone calls because Internet use and communication still did not exist. This generation grew up in a slow-moving environment and continues to do so because of its lack of electronics and lack of knowledge of electronic writing. In comparison to this, the newest generation in the U.S. is currently living in a time of electronic revolution due to the fast paced changes and innovations created year after year. As we become more accustomed to writing to each other electronically, the use of paper writing dies down as more text messages, emails, and blogs are written everyday. In the future, this current generation will be completely accustomed to using this kind of communication daily as well as be used to the fast paced nature of the growth of electronic writing, leaving no one behind. The future generation will grow up in a similar but more technologically advanced environment where the use of electronic writing, such as text messaging, emails, and blogs, will be common practice. In relation to families, parents and children will communicate more frequently by means of electronic writing than they currently are now. Parents in the future will be more tech-savvy than today's older generation, so they will be up to date on new types of technology. Parents will have better knowledge of how to effectively communicate with their children by means of the Internet.

In the classroom, the use of electronic writing will stimulate education and allow for future generations of children to become computer literate at a much younger age than today's generation of children. The use of electronic writing in a school environment will teach students to become accustomed to writing papers electronically as opposed to writing handwritten papers and teach them to use the Internet as a research tool for their everyday life.The use of email in a school environment will revolutionize communication between students, teachers, and parents as well. Teachers that use the Internet in the classroom on a daily basis can communicate frequently with their students to keep them up-to-date on assignments and homework, upcoming tests and quizzes, and offer help outside the classroom. Also, teachers will have easier access to talking to their children's parents about their progress in school by means of email. Students will also have easier access to their teachers when they need it by means of communicating electronically through email, blogs, or even instant messaging. 

       Eliminating the use of paper materials and handwritten work in the classroom setting will allow for future generations of children to become more tech-savvy quicker than any other generation in history. The use of books and paper will only hold children back from learning more about computers and modern technology. Teaching children to use the Internet as a research tool as opposed to a medium of entertainment will allow them to develop researching, organizing, and writing skills they can use throughout their educational career. Not only will young kids be able to write papers electronically, but a higher use of computers in the classroom will call for more interactive media such as electronic text books and educational games that will be beneficial to their education. The quicker children learn to use computers, the Internet, and all its components, they faster they will be able to keep up with today's fast paced innovative technology. 

In the working world, 62% of employed adults use electronic writing off and on the job. Communication between workers, co-workers, managers, supervisors, and bosses is vital. The success of a business depends on the communication between its employees. In the future, the use of electronic writing in the working field will benefit the success of a business and the relationships between its workers. Through electronic writing, supervisors and managers will be able to set up organized and timely schedules and update their workers on the latest news. If a situation occurs where workers might need to stay longer than needed, the managers can quickly reach workers electronically to set up over-time hours as necessary. As technological advances allow for more communication between larger groups of people, tools such as Blackberries enhance organizational and communicative skills for workers. Business will flourish as communication between workers increases, causing them to receive news and updates faster and more effectively, complete all work and assignments by their due dates, and have quicker and more effective access to their supervisors and managers. 

Fifty years from now, as demands for new technology increases, the use of electronic writing will dominate all forms of writing. The Internet gives access to writing opportunities to anyone. According to the Journal of Electronic Publishing, "[a] single feature of electronic writing is that it allows anyone with access to a networked computer to 'publish' on the Internet."Handwritten documents and paper materials will be a long and forgotten memory. The world of electronic writing will create better relationships between people; parents and children, students and teachers, and workers and co-workers. Furthermore, electronic writing has benefitted online political activism and environmental issues by use of online communities such as Facebook and Myspace. Everything from text messages, blogs, email, and instant messaging, the world of electronic writing will bring people closer to each other and communicate more frequently through the cyber world than in any other point in time.